1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to wireless carriers, Internet service providers (ISPs), and information content delivery services/providers. More particularly, it relates to access to prepaid account call history applications and replenishment applications.
2. Background of Related Art
In recent years, the telecommunication industry has seen an explosive growth both in the number of the types of services offered and in the number of service providers. Among those numerous services now being offered, prepaid call service may be one of the fastest growing segments in the telecommunication industry today.
As the name implies, a prepaid call service allows a customer of the service to pay in advance for the use of the provider""s network resources in making a telephone call. The prepaid call service provides, among other things, an alternative option for a telephone user who might otherwise not be able to obtain the traditional postpaid telephone services because, e.g., of a bad credit rating, or of being in a geographical area where post paid service is unavailable.
The world-wide prepaid call services market is projected to grow tremendously in the next few years, fueling a frenzy among service suppliers to quickly add prepaid service to the list of services they already offer. Conventionally, however, the addition of a new service such as prepaid typically requires the addition of new network equipment geared to handle such new service.
For example, as shown FIG. 4, an originator 501 attempts to initiate a prepaid call to a destination 502. Such a prepaid call service typically requires a service platform 503 to xe2x80x9cratexe2x80x9d the prepaid account of the originator 501 to determine whether the originator 501 has a sufficient balance to place the call. If sufficient balance is available, the prepaid service platform 503 connects (or bridges) the call between the originator 501 and the destination 502 via the public switch telephone network (PSTN) 504. The prepaid service platform 503 may also provide additional information to the originator 501, such as account balance information and/or options for replenishment of the same.
Unfortunately, all existing access systems for call history information and replenishment applications have significant delays, typically within 24 hours, and often require customer care representatives of the relevant service provider.
There is a need for a technique and architecture which provides near real-time (e.g., within minutes, preferably less than 1 minute) access to a wireless subscriber for call history and replenishment information.
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, a method of retrieving prepaid service related information comprises accessing from an Internet terminal a web based prepaid reporting application. An identity of a particular subscriber is input to a web based prepaid report page. The prepaid service related information is retrieved through a web browser.